Costa Rica -- Spring 2000 SST unit

Continental Flight 1532, enroute from Houston to San José, arrived safely, albeit with substantial turbulence, at 9:15 pm on January 5. Nonetheless students arrived in good spirits and full of anticipation of the next 3 months.

After spending the night in a youth hostel, the students participated in a day of orientation to the country and culture. The students ate lunch in nearby "sodas" (cafés) and had two hours to explore before meeting their San Jose host families.

Directors

Brent and Launa Rohrer Beck are the SST faculty directors in San Jose, Costa Rica for the 1999-2000 academic year; this spring SST unit is their second group. Both are originally from Ohio and 1992 Goshen College graduates. Launa, assistant professor of psychology has also held administrative positions in the Student Development Division as Resident Director and as a member of the counseling staff. Brent is a school psychologist for Joint Services which serves both Mishawaka and Penn-Harris-Madison school districts.

Launa’s first experience with SST was as a student (’90) in the Dominican Republic. Brent has enjoyed returning to Costa Rica after his SST experience here as a student in 1991.

The Becks have a 21-month-old son, Evan, who enjoys saying "hola" and "agua." Rachel Mast is pictured entertaining Evan (while working on her Spanish vocabulary!).